


Sweet chaos

by bluecalicocat



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: 2min learning how to parent, 2min nation i have decided to provide for you, 2min talk about starting a family, Accidental Baby Acquisition, Alternate Universe, Babysitting, Cute, Cute Kids, De-aging, Established Relationship, Flirting, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Science Experiments, but not a baby because he's 5, but not really, it's so SOFT!, kid jisung, they're scientists
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-12 00:34:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28501557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluecalicocat/pseuds/bluecalicocat
Summary: Minho stares at the five year old child sitting on the floor of their lab, and the child stares right back at him.“…Jisung?” Minho says. The boy on the floor perks up, nodding his head.The only problem with this is the fact that two minutes ago, Jisung was a full grown adult, just about to turn twenty. Far from the child currently staring up at Minho as he almost drowns in the lab rock meant for someone twice his size.“Hyungie?” Jisung says in an attempt to copy Minho’s tone, and oh gosh, his voice is so adorable and light, the older would hug the shit out of him if the situation wasn’t so serious.
Relationships: Bang Chan/Seo Changbin, Han Jisung | Han & Kim Seungmin, Han Jisung | Han & Lee Minho | Lee Know, Han Jisung | Han/Hwang Hyunjin, Kim Seungmin/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 36
Kudos: 332





	Sweet chaos

Minho stares at the five year old child sitting on the floor of their lab, and the child stares right back at him. They can hear Seungmin throwing some stuff around in the other room, but it fades into background noise as the current situation sinks in on them, expressions of surprise overtaking both their faces.

“…Jisung?” Minho eventually says. The boy on the floor perks up at this, nodding his head innocently.

Not that Minho had been expecting another response. This five year old child is definitely Jisung. Who else would it be?

The only problem with this is the fact that two minutes ago, Jisung was a full grown adult, just about to turn twenty. Far from the child currently staring up at Minho as he almost drowns in the lab rock meant for someone twice his size.

“Hyungie?” Jisung says in an attempt to copy Minho’s tone, and oh gosh, his voice is so adorable and light, the older would hug the shit out of him if the situation wasn’t so serious right now.

“Whatcha got there?” Minho asks instead, gesturing to the device that Jisung is holding in one hand. It looks a bit like a lava lamp, except it’s white and there’s no liquid inside.

Jisung lifts his other hand, where he’s holding an empty coffee cup.

“Cup!”

He sounds very proud of this, waving the cup around a bit as if he wants to show it off. Minho smiles and nods.

“That’s a nice cup! What about your other hand, Jisungie?”

The child looks at the lava lamp-thing with a frown before putting it down on the floor and shrugging, clearly not recognizing the object. Not that Minho had expected him to.

So, here’s a brief recap of the past 30 minutes: Minho and Seungmin had been working on a new invention together in the lab, then they left the room, and then Jisung was a five year old child.

Yeah, it doesn’t really make sense to them either, but that’s the situation they’re stuck in right now. Presumably, their invention somehow activated itself and managed to de-age their colleague and best friend while they weren’t in the room. This leaves them with one big problem, and one even bigger problem: They have to take care of a five year old Jisung, and they have to find a way to revert the effects of their newest invention. A big job for them and their last 3 brain cells.

After discovering the child in their lab, Minho tells Seungmin about it, and the two of them are forced to tell Chan what has happened. When they do, their team leader spends five minutes cooing over Jisung (“Look at those cheeks!”), five minutes scolding them for being careless with their tech (“You can’t just leave it laying around like that when you’re not sure how it works!”), and zero minutes actually being helpful.

Seungmin asks if he has any suggestions on what they should do next, but Chan only shakes his head and grabs his coat.

“It’s your problem. I trust you to fix it”, he says with a smile.

That’s not really the kind of support they want, but sure, it’s nice to know that he has faith in them.

“Can’t you at least babysit Jisung while we work on this?” Minho asks as he holds onto Jisung’s hand to make sure the kid doesn’t wander off on his own. Jisung is following the exchange with wide eyes. “We can’t babysit and work on the project at the same time.”

“Sorry.” Chan doesn’t look very sorry. “I have a date with Binnie tonight, but you could try calling Lix, or maybe Jeongin. I would suggest you avoid telling Hyunjin about this, though. At least until you know how to fix it.”

He has a point there. If Hyunjin finds out that Minho and Seungmin have managed to turn his boyfriend into a literal child, they will never hear the end of it, and they’d rather have some time to work on solving this problem without having to hear how stupid they are.

“Oh, trust me, we are not going to mention anything about this to Hyunjin”, Seungmin says as Chan puts his coat on, getting ready to leave.

“But we still have no idea what adjustments to make to age him up again“, Minho adds. “Please please please help us!”

“You invented it”, Chan says, already turning away from the conversation. “If you’re smart enough to cause a problem like this, you’re smart enough to fix it. I believe in you.”

-

“Minho, open spotify and give me your phone”, Seungmin orders, trying to keep a giggling Jisung from running away again by putting a hand on his shoulder. The attempt is useless. Jisung is out of reach before he even finishes his sentence.

“Sure, but no more polkadot stingray”, Minho says as he hands the device over. “Put on something calming.”

In their few hours with Jisung, they’ve learned that music is a great way to get him to listen, and also that he really loves j-rock. Neither of them have much experience with kids, but they’re learning quickly. It’s good that they know what adult Jisung is like, because kid Jisung is actually pretty similar, only smaller, less experienced and much less capable of taking care of himself.

The three of them are still in the laboratory building, but they’ve moved to the break room, not wanting to risk any more accidents by bringing a five year old too close to the tech. Just like Chan suggested, they’ve called in Felix and Jeongin, asking the younger boys for help with the project so that they can turn Jisung back to his real age. This means Minho and Seungmin are stuck on babysitting duties.

“Hyung!” Seungmin exclaims as a notification pops up on Minho’s screen. Jisung is too busy dancing to care about what they’re saying. “Hyunjin just texted you.”

Minho sits up on the couch and looks toward Seungmin.

“What did he say?”

“He’s asking about Jisung.” The child continues to ignore them, even as he hears his name being mentioned. Seungmin makes a grimace. “Apparently, they had plans tonight. Hyunjin is wondering if Jisung is still at the lab, and in that case, if you can send him home.”

Minho doesn’t look very bothered by this.

“Wouldn’t it be kinda funny if we sent him home without an explanation, to see how Hyunjin would react? If Jisung just walked in and was five years old for no apparent reason.”

Seungmin does not look amused.

“Yeah, that would be hilarious”, he deadpans, before realizing how empty the floor right in front of him is, and turning to look around the room. He stands up quickly once his eyes find what he had been looking for. “Hey, stop that! Jisung, be careful!”

“But I’m thirsty”, the boy says with a pout, though he does stop trying to reach the glasses that are standing too high up for him to reach. Pulling out the kitchen drawers and climbing on them would not have been enough to reach a glass.

Seungmin walks over to him and grabs a plastic cup instead, not wanting to risk any broken glasses or injuries by giving the boy something he could break. He fills it with water before handing it to Jisung. The smile he gets in return is bright enough to rival the sun, and the cuteness is a direct attack against Seungmin’s heart.

“Is he allowed to be that cute?” Seungmin asks out loud, and Minho laughs in the back. The younger doesn’t even have it in him to glare at Minho for this.

“I thought you didn’t like kids”, Minho comments once he’s calmed down.

“I never said I didn’t like them, I just haven’t really tried to bond with any kids before.”

The situation is a little weird. This kid isn’t just any child, but their de-aged colleague and best friend, so it should probably be weird to see Jisung as a five year old, and it is, but not as much as they had thought. Sure, he resembles their adult friend, but he’s so different at the same time.

“Do you think Lix and Innie have made any breakthroughs yet?” Minho breaks the silence at the same time as Jisung puts his cup down.

“No way”, Seungmin says, watching as Jisung crouches on the (ugly) green mat in the middle of the break room, mumbling to himself as he plays with his fingers. “It’s only been, what? Two hours? There’s no way they’ve gotten that far in such a short time.”

They watch Jisung for a few moments. It doesn’t seem like he’s about to get bored, even though he doesn’t have anything to entertain himself with in here.

“Should we take him out?” Minho asks.

Seungmin stares at the older, before realizing that Minho doesn’t mean they should murder Jisung. He’s asking if they should take him outside.

“He’s not a pet”, Seungmin says, scrunching his nose up at the weird phrasing. “But maybe we could go to a park or something. I’m sure he’d like that.”

-

Adult Jisung asks a lot of questions, because he’s a curious person. Not annoyingly so, but it’s one of the reasons he’s such a good scientist. He’s constantly expanding his knowledge, testing limits and defying them in ways that other people couldn’t imagine doing. It’s what makes him grow as a scientist.

Kid Jisung is the exact same, but with much less knowledge, and the questions he asks are a weird mixture of stuff that adults would consider to be common sense, and oddly specific science questions that must have remained from his adult knowledge.

Going outside only seems to trigger his curiosity.

“Why is grass green?”

He’s holding onto Minho’s hand as they walk, both to make sure that they don’t lose him but also because he’d been pretty scared of crossing the road earlier.

“Because of chlorophyll”, Minho responds.

He still hasn’t texted Hyunjin back and is desperately trying to come up with an excuse as to why Jisung won’t be home tonight, only half paying attention to what Jisung is saying right now.

“If you eat a lot of chlorophyll”, Jisung says, stumbling over the word a bit, “will it make your skin green? And can you photosynthesize?”

They shouldn’t be surprised that he understands what those words mean, even if his mouth struggles to pronounce them correctly.

“No”, Seungmin responds from where he’s walking next to them. “You need more than just chlorophyll to photosynthesize. Plants are the only ones who can do that.”

“No!” Jisung yells, forgetting about the volume of his voice as he hurries to correct Seungmin. “There are leaf slugs! They’re tiny and green and they do the photosynthis.”

Seungmin glances at Minho, who shrugs. He hasn’t heard about something like that before, but if such an animal exists, Jisung is definitely the kind of person who would know about it. He trusts the five year old’s knowledge.

“That sounds cool”, Seungmin comments with a smile. “What else do you know about leaf slugs?”

Jisung seems really excited to share the information, almost bouncing where he’s walking.

“They’re called leaf sheeps, and, and they are super tiny, and they live in the water!”

“How tiny?”

Seungmin is definitely going to google this when they get back to the lab, but for now he’s content with hearing Jisung go on about whatever this animal is.

“Like, maybe this big, I think.” Jisung uses his fingers to show them. “They’re super small and sooo cute!”

Both adults smile at how excited Jisung gets.

Before they know it, they’ve reached the playground at the center of the park, and whatever they’d been talking about slips from Jisung’s mind as he pulls Minho along, trying to get there faster. The older doesn’t let go until they’re close enough that he feels safe letting Jisung run ahead.

Seungmin smiles as Jisung goes, seeming to be heading for the swing set. He opens his mouth to say something to Minho, but is interrupted before he can.

“Minho?” a woman behind them speaks.

The two boyfriends turn around. Seungmin can’t say he recognizes her, but Minho looks a bit surprised to see the woman, taking a few seconds before responding.

“Yeah, it’s me. Hi, aunt Mina”, he greets.

Mina smiles, taking a few steps closer to them and looking at Minho.

“Minho! I haven’t seen you in, what? Four years? You’ve grown so much!”

Seungmin is ready to head off and find Jisung, make sure he isn’t doing something dangerous while these two catch up, but then Mina turns to him.

“And you must be his husband!”

Both of them are too surprised by the statement to object. Mina doesn’t seem to be expecting a response, as she continues almost immediately.

“Minho, we should catch up sometime.” Minho nods silently, still with his mouth open as he tries to formulate some sort of response. “Anyway, it was good seeing you here. Don’t worry, I won’t keep you. I’ll let you go find your son again. I saw him when he took off earlier. Really cute, that one. I’d love to meet him sometime.”

She takes a step back, smiling and waving as she turns to walk off. Minho manages a weak ‘goodbye’ before the woman is disappearing down the pathway that goes through the park, not giving them a chance to respond to anything she just said.

The two of them stand in silence for a few more moments before Seungmin breaks it.

“Well”, Seungmin says, “apparently, you’re married and have a child now. Congratulations!”

Minho glares at him, but there’s no real anger behind it.

“Yeah, it’s gonna be a real blast to explain the truth the next time I meet her”, he eventually comments. “But let’s go find Jisung now, make sure he didn’t fall off the swings or something. I can deal with my aunt later.”

-

“Wait, when did he take his shirt off?”

Seungmin stops in the opening to their living room, staring at the scene he’s faced with.

Both Jisung and Minho are sitting on the floor next to the coffee table, where they have a bunch of colored pencils spread out. As far as Seungmin can remember, the kid wasn’t shirtless when he left the room. Now, his shirt is gone.

“He said he didn’t wanna wear it anymore”, Minho says casually, not even bothering to look up at Seungmin as he speaks.

Jisung is completely unbothered. He continues drawing as the two adults talk, not caring about them at all. He’s actually been pretty unbothered about this whole thing since it started, barely complaining at all. Not even when they brought him home to their apartment, where they are right now. The change of environment hasn’t fazed him in the slightest.

Seungmin comes closer. There’s music playing on Minho’s phone (polkadot stingray again… five year old Jisung really loves his j-rock) and upon first glance, it seems like a pretty wholesome scene. They’re just drawing.

Then, Seungmin looks at where Jisung is drawing, and has to stop himself from doing one of Hyunjin’s dramatic gasps. Instead, he forces his voice to stay calm and asks,

“Minho, are you letting him draw on his arm?”

“But he’s good at it”, Minho argues, gesturing to the doodles Jisung is in the middle of making on himself.

“That’s not a valid argument”, Seungmin says. “He’ll still be good at drawing if he does it on paper instead of his own skin. Hey Sungie, come here, let’s go wash you off!”

Seungmin’s tone is much gentler when he talks to Jisung, and Minho almost laughs at this. His boyfriend holds his hand out for the kid to take.

Jisung looks up with a pout, dropping the pen after a moment of consideration and taking Seungmin’s hand to let the older lead him to the bathroom. Minho watches them with a fond smile.

While the two of them go to wash Jisung’s arm, Minho looks at the time and realizes that it’s past 8 pm. That’s not very good. It’s been almost four hours since Jisung accidentally de-aged himself.

“Seungmin”, he yells, trying not to make the worry too obvious in his voice. “Hyunjin is still wondering where Jisung is. And also, we forgot to feed him dinner.”

He hears the water turn off in the bathroom, and a few more minutes pass before the pair comes back into the living room. Jisung’s arm is free of doodles, and Seungmin has even managed to find a striped shirt to put on him, even though it’s way too large on the tiny child.

“I thought you came up with a lie to tell Hyunjin?” he asks, letting go of Jisung so the kid can run toward Minho. He giggles before crashing straight into the older, who’s still sitting on the floor and opens his arms at the incoming little tornado.

“Well, I tried. I never actually replied, though.”

“I’ll order takeout”, Seungmin says, moving on to the second problem. That one’s a bit easier to solve. “And while I do that, you text Hyunjin.”

Minho groans.

“Hyunjin? Hyunjinnie?” Jisung repeats. He must recognize the name, because his face lights up and he looks between the two adults eagerly.

“Yeah, Jinnie”, Minho confirms as Seungmin leaves the room to go order food. “Do you remember him?”

Jisung nods and giggles. Minho pokes one of his cheeks.

“I love Jinnie!” he says. “I wanna see him. Hyungie, hyungie, when can I see him?”

That’s a bit of a complicated question.

“Well…” Minho says, trying to come up with an explanation that will make sense to the five year old. “First you need to eat. And then you need to sleep, because it’s getting late.”

“And then I can see Jinnie?” Jisung jumps in, not having the patience to wait for Minho to finish his sentence.

The older thinks about it. He’s not sure how close Jeongin and Felix are to solving this problem, but Hyunjin doesn’t usually come to the lab until the early afternoon. Surely they can manage to age Jisung up again before that?

“You know what, I think you’re right. If you eat and sleep well tonight, you can see him after lunch tomorrow.”

Jisung apparently has no concept of time, because he seems very pleased with this and doesn’t even say anything about how much time there is until tomorrow afternoon. He claps his hands and grins.

-

“Uh, Minho?” Seungmin says, and the older hums to show that he’s listening. “Where is Jisung gonna sleep tonight?”

Minho looks up from where he’d been in the middle of feeding Jisung. Not because he needs the help, but letting him eat on his own turned out to take too much time, so it’s easier if Minho does it. The kid whines as soon as Minho pauses, prompting the man to keep feeding him while he answers Seungmin’s question.

“Should we just let him sleep between us on the bed?” Minho suggests.

That sounds reasonable. It’s not like they can put the five year old kid on the couch. They also don’t have a kid bed, for obvious reasons, so letting Jisung sleep with them in their bedroom is probably the best.

“Yeah, that’s good”, Seungmin agrees. As Minho feeds Jisung the last bite of food, he continues. “So what did you end up telling Hyunjin?”

Minho looks completely unbothered as he responds.

“That an accident happened in the lab today, so he’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see Jisung, and also to not worry about it.”

Seungmin stares at his boyfriend.

Jisung is done with his food now, and since they don’t have any chairs better suited for children, the two adults have put a pillow on one of the normal chairs for him to sit on. He jumps down from it as soon as Minho starts picking up the empty food container. Minho drops it quickly once Jisung starts moving, though, reaching over to make sure that the kid doesn’t injure himself on the table.

“Bedtime, bedtime, bedtime!” Jisung chants.

Seungmin is still focused on Minho’s response to his previous question, and while they both wait for Minho to finish cleaning up after the meal, Seungmin addresses that. Jisung’s chanting continues in the background.

“Do you seriously think that telling Hyunjin not to worry is gonna stop him from worrying?” Seungmin asks. Minho only shrugs. “Minho, Hyunjin has this talent called _overthinking_ , and it doesn’t matter if you tell him not to worry about something. If anything, he might worry more when you tell him not to!”

Minho throws the empty containers into the trash before turning to face Seungmin.

“Yeah, I know”, he says. “He’s been spamming my phone since I sent the message, but it’s fine.”

Telling Seungmin that something is fine is exactly the same as telling Hyunjin not to worry: It simply does not work.

“It’s not fine. What if he decides to come here and sees Jisung?”

Minho takes Jisung’s hand and starts leading him toward the bedroom, Seungmin following behind them.

“He’s not gonna come over, cause I didn’t tell him where Jisung is.”

That’s even worse.

“Okay, give me your phone”, Seungmin orders, and Minho doesn’t argue with that. He fishes it out of his pocket with his free hand and holds it out for Seungmin to take.

Jisung has been quiet since they left the table, looking around and getting distracted by paintings on the walls. Even though it’s a really short distance to their bedroom, Minho is glad that he grabbed his hand, otherwise Jisung definitely would have tripped over something with how little he looks at where he’s putting his feet.

Seungmin goes quiet after unlocking Minho’s phone, so Minho decides to give his attention to the youngest boy.

“Hey, Sungie”, he says. “Do you like the paintings?”

The kid tears his eyes away from the wall and turns to Minho, nodding.

“I like the sunflower”, Jisung says.

They have a painting of a sunflower right outside the kitchen, so that has to be what he’s talking about. Minho smiles.

“Do you remember that one from when you were big?” he asks, but Jisung shakes his head with a pout. Minho laughs at his expression. “Well, you’re the one who painted it.”

At this, Jisung’s eyes grow big and he points to himself in disbelief. Minho laughs again.

“Yes, you. You gave it to me and Seungmin when we moved into this apartment as a housewarming gift. It was really touching.”

Jisung is still in awe of that as they enter the bedroom. Minho isn’t sure he even notices where they are, since he seems to be so deep in thought. Minho gently nudges the boy toward the bed, and that manages to bring him back to the present.

Jisung jumps up on the bed, crawling over to the middle while Minho goes to their closet to get some more comfortable clothes for himself and Seungmin. Everything is oversized on Jisung, so he’ll be fine with what he’s wearing now.

He changes quickly, not wanting to keep the child waiting, and chucks the other pair of clothes toward Seungmin, who’s sitting on the bed. Minho then flops down on the other side of Jisung and turns to look at him.

“Do you wanna hear a story?” he asks.

Jisung shakes his head.

“Song?” he says, a hint of hopefulness in his voice. Minho glances at Seungmin, who has yet to put the phone down.

“You want a lullaby?” Minho wonders, and Jisung nods. “Okay. Is there any specific song you wanna hear?”

This time, Jisung shakes his head. Minho turns to look at Seungmin, only to find he younger already looking at him. He’s racking his brain, trying to come up with something to sing, when Seungmin starts humming a soft melody.

It sounds suspiciously much like a Day6 song, and Minho can’t say he’s surprised. That’s exactly the type of song Seungmin would choose as a lullaby. He’s not complaining, though. The sound is captivating. Seungmin is only humming, but there’s still so much warmth and comfort in the music, lulling both Jisung and Minho closer to sleep.

They haven’t talked about having kids anytime soon, but Minho imagines that this is what a family with Seungmin would feel like.

-

Jisung is not a morning person. That much is clear from the thirty minutes Minho and Seungmin have spent trying to wake him up, with no success. The tiny child started crying when they took his blanket away from him, and they haven’t tried again.

“Come on”, Seungmin groans, glaring at Jisung from where he’s standing in the doorway to the bedroom. “How hard can it be? Shouldn’t he be waking up by now?”

Minho steps into the room.

“Maybe he just needs time to adjust”, he suggests before taking a seat next to the lump on the bed. Jisung is currently buried under the covers, probably to protect himself from the adults and their attempts at getting him to leave the bed. Minho lifts a hand and puts it on what he believes is Jisung’s shoulder. “Sungie, come on. Time for breakfast.”

The lump moves, but Jisung doesn’t get up. Minho turns back to Seungmin.

“What if we just take the whole thing?”

Seungmin frowns, not understanding what he means. That becomes clear a second later, when Minho scoops the child into his arms, blanket included. Jisung’s head pops up through one of the openings with his hair messed up from sleep, and he slowly blinks his eyes open. He seems pretty out of it.

At least he doesn’t start crying this time. The blanket must have done the trick.

Minho grins toward Seungmin, who rolls his eyes, before standing up and adjusting his grip on Jisung now that he has a better sense of where his body is within the blanket. The kid lets his head fall down on Minho’s shoulder, looking like he’s about to go back to sleep. Seungmin has to force himself not to coo at that.

“I think I like kids”, Seungmin comments distractedly as he watches Minho fix the blanket around Jisung, making sure his shoulders are covered.

Minho raises an eyebrow at this.

“Oh, really?” he hums. Then, he smirks. “Wanna make one?”

A few years ago, that comment would have reduced Seungmin to a stuttering mess, but he’s used to it at this point. All the does now is roll his eyes.

“We’re gay”, he deadpans as he follows the other out of their bedroom and toward the kitchen. “I’m so sorry to tell you this, but we physically can’t make babies.”

“I mean… There’s always adoption.”

Minho’s voice is softer and less joking when he says this. Seungmin pauses in the doorway to stare at him as he lowers Jisung onto a chair by the table, making sure the kid isn’t about to fall off the chair as soon as he lets go. He waits while Minho gets the bowls and the cereal, watches the other put it all down on the table, before they both take their usual seats opposite each other. Minho’s words are still hanging in the air, and Seungmin is in deep thought.

It’s clear that Minho is trying to act like this doesn’t matter to him as he distracts himself by pouring milk into Jisung’s bowl, but the small things betray him. He’s avoiding looking at Seungmin.

“Would you… Would you want that?” Seungmin eventually asks.

Minho takes a few more seconds to help Jisung get a proper grip on the spoon, making sure the kid can feed himself, before looking up at the other.

“I think”, he starts, “that I wouldn’t mind a kid.”

Seungmin briefly wonders how they ever managed to confess to each other, if this is how bad they are at communicating. This is what you get when two tsunderes date each other.

“Yeah, but do you want one?”

When it takes Minho more than ten seconds to come up with an answer to that, Seungmin speaks again.

“Personally, I think I do. Or I mean, it’s barely been a day, but still.”

“Me too.”

Minho’s voice is much softer than usual. He meets Seungmin’s gaze, and the only thing interrupting the silence is the sound of Jisung’s spoon scraping the bowl, but neither of them look away from each other.

Then, Jisung starts crying. Minho and Seungmin exchange a quick look of panic before turning to the child, who’s in the middle of pulling the blanket up over his head again to hide his face. The two adults have no idea why he’s upset right now. His spoon has been dropped to the table, right next to the almost finished bowl of cereal.

“Let’s talk about this later”, Minho says, and Seungmin nods. They have a crying child to deal with first.

-

“I’m done!” Jeongin practically screeches.

Minho lifts his head from where he’d been helping Jisung lay a puzzle, seeing the younger scientist walk into the break room as he waves an arm around wildly. He’s holding onto some type of tech, Minho realizes a second later. He stands up.

“Stop waving it like that”, Minho warns, taking a step toward Jeongin. “You don’t wanna break it.”

He casts a glance down at Jisung, only to find the child already staring at him with wide eyes. He’s biting his lip, looking almost like he’s about to start crying.

Minho quickly crouches down again.

“Hey, it’s okay.” His voice is much softer compared to when he had just been talking to Jeongin. “It’s okay, it was just Innie being loud. You don’t like loud noises, do you?”

Jisung shakes his head with a pout. Minho reaches out to ruffle his hair.

“You’re good with him”, Jeongin comments. Minho flips him off, and the boy scoffs. “See, this is why I never compliment you! Ungrateful...”

Jeongin is still grumbling as he turns to walk out of the room, leaving Minho alone with Jisung again. The older glances down at the kid.

“Hey, Sungie”, he says. The kid has stopped pouting now and is looking at Minho expectantly. “Let’s get you to the others and age you up again, yeah?”

“Others?” Jisung repeats. He gasps. “Lixie?”

He had only gotten to meet Felix briefly when they got here earlier today, but the boy’s red hair had caught his attention immediately. Minho is 90% sure that he would pull it if given the chance.

Minho smiles at him.

“Yeah, Lix will be there! Come on, follow me.”

He holds his hand out for Jisung, and the boy takes it. Minho leads him out of the break room and toward the lab where this whole problem started.

All of the others (except for Hyunjin) are already inside the room, and they look up when Minho and Jisung enter. All the attention would normally make little Jisung shy, but he’s so focused on Felix that he barely notices the rest of them.

“Lixie!” he yells happily as they enter, letting go of Minho’s hand. He runs across the room, his oversized shirt flapping behind him like a tiny cape.

Lucky for him, Felix is prepared for the incoming little tornado and picks him up easily.

“Hey there, Sungie.” He gives the kid a bright smile, and Jisung smiles back even brighter, waving his hand in Felix’s face. “Are you having a good time?”

As Jisung starts babbling to Felix about his day, Minho turns toward the other scientists in the room.

The invention that Jeongin had been holding earlier has now found its way into Chan’s hand. That’s probably for the best. He’s the only one they should be trusting with tech like this, especially considering what Minho and Seungmin managed to do with it last time.

“Do we just put him on the floor and point it at him?” Changbin asks.

Seungmin frowns and turns to Chan.

“It won’t hurt him, right?”

“No, no”, Chan says, waving his hands around. “It won’t hurt at all. He just has to stay still for a few seconds and then we’ll have our Jisung back.”

“He’s still our Jisung”, Minho points out, because it’s not like Jisung was ever missing. He’s been here the whole time. “Just tinier.”

“Do you want him to stay tiny forever, then?” Jeongin asks. He sounds like he’s teasing, but Minho considers the question seriously.

“I mean…”

“No”, Chan interrupts before Minho can get any further. “Nope. Jisung is going back to normal. Lix, can you put him down on the floor?”

Felix looks up at them and nods. Jisung looks around the room as he’s put down again, but doesn’t protest. His eyes find Seungmin and Minho, holding a hand out toward them and taking a step forward. It shouldn’t tug at their heartstrings so much, but it does, even more so since they can’t go to him right now.

Seungmin shakes his head with a sad smile.

“Sungie, can you stay there for a few seconds? It will be fast, I promise.”

Jisung stops, glancing between Seungmin and Minho.

“Like… Playing a game?” he asks. His voice is even smaller than usual. “We playing a game?”

Minho nods, because it’s the easiest thing to do.

“Yeah! You just stand really still, and then we count to five, and then you can move again! Okay?”

Jisung doesn’t look convinced. He seems to trust Minho and Seungmin, though, because he eventually nods.

“Okay.”

Minho and Seungmin exchange a glance, and then they count together.

“One, two…”

Before they can get any further, a blue flash lights up the room, and everything goes quiet. The room is dark. It seems as if the universe itself is holding its breath. No one dares break the silence as they wait for the haze that has overtaken their vision to fade away again, waiting for their eyes to adjust after the sudden brightness. Most of them had closed their eyes at the harsh lightning, but there’s something in the air that lingers, like an afterglow, or maybe a fog.

The first thing they hear is a cough. There’s some shuffling, like someone is crawling on the floor, and then a confused voice speaks up.

“Uh… what’s going on?”

Minho and Seungmin open their eyes, and they’re the first to cross the room. Jisung is still sitting in the same spot, the only difference being that he’s bigger now. He’s back to normal, if not a little confused.

“You’re back!” Seungmin exclaims.

Minho flops down on top of Jisung, knocking him over so they’re both laying on the floor. Jisung lets out an ‘oof’, but returns the hug.

“What’s going on?” Jisung repeats. “And why am I being squished to death by Minho right now?”

Minho tightens his hold, and Jisung wheezes.

“It’s kind of a long story”, Seungmin says with a grimace.

“Seungmin and Minho’s latest invention accidentally turned you into a five year old”, Jeongin explains. He sticks his tongue out at Seungmin. “It’s really not that long of a story.”

The other doesn’t have a chance to respond, because the door to the lab opens as soon as he finishes speaking. Everyone turns their head in that direction, but they don't have time to get a proper look at the person before he’s opening his mouth.

“Jisung!” Hyunjin yells and storms inside. “Why the hell did Felix send me pictures of you as a little kid? On snapchat, inside this very lab, looking like they were taken today?”

They all turn to Felix, who’s smiling sheepishly. He rubs his neck.

“Yeah, so, uhh… You see, Minho and Seungmin accidentally turned him into a five year yesterday, but don’t worry! The problem is fixed now.”

Hyunjin stares between him and Jisung, who’s still being squished by Minho’s hug. Seungmin has started to back away slowly while Hyunjin processes this. He’s probably mad that they didn’t tell him about what happened to his boyfriend. Or, maybe it’s the fact that they lied to him about it. Or maybe the situation is just very confusing in general. It’s not exactly a normal thing that has happened.

Hyunjin opens his mouth.

“What the f-”

**Author's Note:**

> i started writing this in july/august and then i gave up about halfway through, but i'm so glad i finished it!!
> 
> also, i had a [youtube playlist](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRiruE1FaIQ/) that i listened to while writing, and it's the same j-rock that jisung was vibing to in this fic :p


End file.
